Started at the Samish Overlook parking lot and set out on the Larry Reed Trail. At the crossing of the main access road, the trail on the other side was fenced off but the closure sign said the timber sales were through October. So we went around the fencing and continued onward to a new logging road which I think is also going to serve as the newly rerouted access road to Samish Overlook, as well. There were downed logs that blocked the trail so we had to find a way around them to get onto the road to cross it to access the trail on the other side. Then there was one more road crossing of the older logging road. Then finally the trail entered the forest. We went up to the left at the Max's Shortcut Trail and got into some fresh snow at around 2000 feet. But the snow was mainly off to the sides of the trail, which was bare. We arrived at Lily Lake which was started to freeze over. Past Lily Lake we hiked up to the junction with North Butte Trail, then took that up to North Butte. The very last bit is a bit scrambly and we were careful with the wet snowy rocks. The view toward the sea was great, especially with snow on the trees in the foreground.
We returned past Lily Lake and then followed the Oyster Lily Trail to Oyster Dome turnoff. The trail up to Oyster Dome has recently been remade to feature more gentle and wider switchbacks, so it no longer has that steep rough section. Very nice new bit of trail. We were very lucky to have the entire Oyster Dome viewpoint to ourselves, which was a first for me!
We then hiked the main Samish Bay Trail back to Samish Overlook. 6 miles, 3 hr 45 minutes including breaks.
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